I'm French and German, born in Belgium. I studied Psychology and Biology in Konstanz, Bochum (Germany) and Boston (USA). I completed my PhD work in 2000 with David Perrett on the relationship between single neuron activity in the superior temporal sulcus (STS) of macaques and the perception of visual stimuli. Thereafter, in Parma (Italy), I examined the role of mirror neurons in understanding the actions of others. Later, I extended the idea of mirror neurons to sensations and emotions. In 2004, as an assistant professor, I moved to the Neuroimaging Center of the University Medical Center Groningen to extend this line of research using fMRI with the help of a research group (Social Brain Lab), since 2007 as a full Professor for the Social Brain and since 2010 as an affiliated professor.

Prizes and Grants:The Marie Curie Excellence Grant, given by the E.U. to build up excellent international research groups around the most promising young europeen researchers (1.34MEuro’s)
The Marie Curie Excellence Award, given by the E.U. in
recognition of outstanding research achievements (50’000Euro’s).The Vidi-Grant, awarded by the NWO to promote
scientific innovation (1MEuro’s).